Guys, so far I’ve reviewed products I liked, and some that were a bit MEH, so be prepared: today you will be reading a very negative review. As this is only my personal experience, and other people may still like this mask I also have included some tips for those planning to brave a try with it.

I got this from my awesome blogger friend Natasha (of Confessions of a Skincare Junkie), who sent me a LOT of awesome stuff during our “Sample Swap”. We both had too many samples to ever use. I suck so I haven’t sent her mine yet, but as a total kindness among the samples she also threw in some mask products she wasn’t planning to use (she knows I love masks!!).

Natasha said her Chinese isn’t too good anymore but she sweetly managed to translate a few of the key words for me, so I could discover the functions of the mask. It’s a take off style mask (as opposed to My Beauty Diary, which is left on the skin), and it’s supposed to “whiten” skin (don’t panic! in Asian beauty “whitening” is synonymous with brightening. Nothing can bleach/”whiten” your face in one use).

Front of the Package, 25g of productClick images to enlarge

Back of the package

Based on what the translation said, I was expecting a black sheet mask, but upon opening I discovered it’s not a sheet mask at all. Here I’m thinking: “This looks like a black clay mask. Yay!!” Uh oh…

Hereafter known as mistake number one.

Guys I began applying this mask, and let me tell you 25g is a generous amount. It was so much that just to use it up I caked it on everything I possibly could: upper lip, eyebrows, neck. This ended up being a mistake, because this is NOT actually a clay-style mask at ALL but a peel-off mask (and a VERY adherent one at that).

I am very fussy.

And caking it on had two very negative effects for me. One, once this mask dried, it dried unevenly due to the amount of product I put on. And when it hardened, it REALLY hurt, it needed to be taken of IMMEDIATELY. So I peeled it off unevenly to spare myself suffering. And two, once I started peeling it, it was SO stuck to my skin it pulled things off, like some of my eyebrow on my right eye (on the left side in the photo). I learned my lesson, so for my other eyebrow I tried washing it off instead. This is when I learned another exciting fact about this mask.

My poor sink.

This mask is a lot like squid ink. When washing off mask parts that could not be peeled it was so much black that I thought this mask was breeding. I would rinse rinse rinse, and it looked like nothing had come off my skin, and yet my sink looked like BP Oil had been there. It took me AN HOUR to get this effing shit off my face. I stained my shirt, my sink, and a few of the things around my sink, because this product when combined with water thins and can spread easily. It was a huge hassle to clean up.

I admit, this is my own doing.

In a way, I only have myself to blame. It’s not the manufacturer’s fault that I don’t read Chinese or Korean, and I’m guessing it clearly states the mask is a peel-off type. I would have used it more correctly if it had been known to me. Still, in sharing my experience I must be honest. I hated this experience. It was such an effort to get this mask off and clean my sink. I hardly appreciated the benefits of the mask at all.

Check it out, this mask actually does work though.

I suck for not taking a “before” pic but I’ll tell you what, this is a noticeably brighter Cakepie. You can see a little redness from ripping this mask from my skin (it stuck HARD), but besides that wow. It definitely delivered brighter skin. I don’t know if it was a chemical reaction changing my skin, or if it was the mechanical action of TEARING MY SKIN OFF OF MY FACE. But the result is as advertised.

It was super messy and threatened mass staining of my bathroom (thankfully it came out of the bathroom sink, but left a stain on my shirt sleeve).

It hurt my face when it dried because it was so tight.

No English anywhere.

Did not readily wash off my face (but it’s supposed to be for peeling anyway). Something like an HOUR to get it all clean, off my face and gone forever.

Not relaxing.

I don’t think sensitive skin could survive this. I have skin impervious to irritation and it still hurt and irritated me a bit.

Tips for use:

Please do not put the entire contents of the package on your face. Only apply as much as you need to COVER the skin, a thin, thin layer. And apply evenly!

Don’t you dare apply this to eyebrows, around the eye area, or places where you are sensitive.

Surprise! It peels! So when it hardens start peeling it off. Right away. Don’t wait or you’ll regret it.

One more thing: Wear dark clothing or something you don’t care about. It will stain whatever clothes it touches. It has no mercy.

Bottom line: I might try this again, JUST ONCE, to see if it works better now that I know more about it. But I was very unhappy despite the good results because it took so much energy. I’m so sick that when I waste this kind of time it ruins my ability to do other things. I hated this mask for robbing me of my energy. I also did not find it relaxing, which is one of the main reasons I love masks so much (of course I also love skin benefits ^_^). I would not recommend this mask, I think there are better, SAFER brightening products available, and products that are much more fun to use.

If you dare try this evil mask you have to tell me how it went! Please heed my warnings before you do (I hope you have a better go than I do).

I’ve been using a shade from my Coastal Scents Warm Palette (a great buy) as eyebrow powder and it’s an amazing color match (no red at all, so it doesn’t look gross in photos). I’ve been trying for more of a Korean-style straight brow lately, and, well, now I pretty much have to DRAW myself one lol

On the plus side, only one brow had to die, so it technically saved the life of my other side ^_^

Thanks for nominating me (: That’s very sweet, hon. Because I didn’t know what a Liebster Award is I’ve just been researching what to do, and based on what I found it might be a mite before I get to it considering the amount of work involved.

I’m not sure how many followers I have either >: I know it’s easier with blogger because you can check GFC numbers, but without that I’d say, maybe my facebook group or rss would be my follower count? There’s bound to be some overlap… but no matter how you measure I don’t think it’s 200 yet, and if so maybe just over.

Oh dear!!! I didn’t mean to send you something that looks and rinses like coal tar! Lesson learned: if I can’t get a translation, probably best to leave it on the shelf… sorry you had such a harrowing experience, but glad it left your skin happier.

Hey it’s not your fault, this is really my own doing, I could have just done a lick of research to learn it was a peel-off mask.

It was more like squid ink than coal tar, because it’s a peel-off mask the parts that finally dried I was able to peel so no mess, but a lot of the mask just didn’t dry (hence the photos with part of the black mask). Plus I wasn’t going to attempt to pull any of that mask from my other eyebrow, so that one was messy to rinse.

On the plus side, the mask TOTALLY WORKED, lol. So it’s not like you sent me something that was bad (: The other ones you gave me are all sheet masks (I CHECKED this time) so they’re likely to be sweet and innocent masks.

It was still a good experience because I had never tried a mask like that, so if I ever get one of that type again I’ll know what to do ^_^

About your question about skin coloring, it might be helpful to tell you that “whitening” is the same as “brightening” in asian beauty. It won’t actually whiten my skin (probably), though without knowing exactly what the ingredients are I can’t be sure. Typically anything that can actually “whiten” the skin would require months of use, and the effects would be either “nothing” or a subtle change.

And also brightening is a reduction in dullness of the skin, which is super helpful during the winter months ^_^

As for tanning, during the summer (and year round) I’m vigilant about sunscreen. It’s not due to vanity: I’m on medication that makes my skin very susceptible to the sun. I can’t risk skin cancer. Well I can, but if I did I’d be an idiot. If I want a tan, I’ll try lotions instead so I don’t harm my skin. Oh, and at my age I am also conscious of wrinkles, so maybe there’s a little vanity after all ^_^

OMGSH! This looks horrible D= at least it works though! If you’re after a brightening/whitening product though, you can’t go past the TonyMoly Tomatox line – it really works! (Without tearing off eyebrows)